Disgo Tablet 8104 - Performance, Value & Verdict

Summary

Our Score:

5

Remarkably we actually found Disgo's own browser based 'Disgo apps'
store more useful even though it contains just 19 apps at the time of
review. Most of these are essentials like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
TuneIn Radio, Skype and eBay, but it hardly allows for much exploration
and it is likely no coincidence that Angry Birds Rio is the only game
listed.

Performance

On its limited hardware Angry
Birds Rio remains playable, but there are frequent frame drops and more
complex levels introduce a level of stutter that quickly becomes
frustrating. This is reflected throughout the performance of the 8104
with menu navigation remaining reasonably fluid (at least when taps are
recognised), but web browsing can be torturous on more complex sites -
particularly when zooming in and out. To put this in context the 8104
scored just 2,995 in AnTuTu (premium phones like the dual core Samsung Galaxy Nexus and quad core Galaxy S3 hit over 6,000 and 12,000 respectively) and the £129 single core 1GHz Cotex-A8
Scroll Excel running Android 2.3 achieved 2,824 back in January.
Consequently you'll get by on the 8104, just don't expect to do anything
in a hurry.

Incidentally Adobe Flash support is provided though
it is largely pointless given the horsepower available and we found the
micro HDMI output of little use for video output, though it does allow
pictures to be shown off easily.

As
you might expect these pictures won't be taken on the 8104 as it features
just a VGA front facing camera for video conferencing. The results are
extremely pixelated and good lighting is essential, but it will get you
through a Skype conversation. As such it does a job. Battery life? Again
the 8104 underwhelms compared the vast stamina we have come to expect
from this category of device. Disgo quotes up to five hours and in
practice this is about right. We found the 8104 would just about see out
the day with light to medium usage and this should be enough for most
people.

Value

All of which brings up to price and it
is here where Google has dealt Disgo and so many other budget Android
tablet makers a blow. Prior to the arrival of the Nexus 7 the 8104's
£150 asking price meant that many of its shortcomings were acceptable
for such a small outlay. After all the screen is poor but can be lived
with, the build quality is second rate but isn't a priority, the battery
life lasts a day and you can get the basic apps and even side load apps
via a microSD card or wait for the launch of the
Amazon Android Appstore in the UK later this year. In short: you could
get by.

Following
our Nexus 7 preview however we have found the Asus-made device to be a
game changer. It blows away the 8104 in every area except screen size,
yet makes up for this with a higher quality IPS panel and larger 1280 x
800 native resolution. Disgo isn't the only manufacturer to be hit, the
keenly priced
Kindle Fire is likely to be the biggest name casualty, but that will
be of little comfort to Disgo as its 8104 has been rendered obsolete.

Verdict

The
Disgo Tablet 8104 is a low quality device which aims to succeed on
price alone. Build materials, screen response and performance are all
substandard and the strange decision to remove the Google Play backfires
as the company provides less than 20 apps in its own store and third
party solutions are obscure. On the plus side the 8104 can be used for
rudimentary web surfing and key apps like Facebook, Twitter and Skype
are available. At £150 this used to be enough… until the Google Nexus 7
came along.

Overall Score

Scores In Detail

issieman

July 2, 2012, 5:17 pm

The world has moved on now .. The Google Nexsus 7 is here for 159.00. unless Disgo sells these tablets for 50.00 or less, I can't see how they will sell

Chris

July 2, 2012, 7:30 pm

Tablets like this prove why the Nexus 7 couldn't have come soon enough. We've been limited to a selection of sub-standard budget tablets and overpriced iPad-wannabe premium tablets for far too long. Even if the Google Play subsidy was removed from its discount price, the Nexus 7 would still be a game changer.

Disgo are now looking utterly obsolete, though given their PC World customer base they may still be able to sell a few of these to unsuspecting punters.

hidden

October 7, 2012, 12:26 pm

why i can conect to the internet?conect and disconect every 2-3 minutes/it`s a joke from disgo?

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